The Rev. Shah Ahmadi, an evangelist, pastor, and the director of strategic alliances for Iran Alive Ministries, grew up in Iran and lived under its repressive regime for 22 years.
He recently told CBN News about his upbringing and his eventual decision to flee Iran for the U.S.
“When I was age 8, my dad took me to the mosque, so I start learning about Islam because of my dad,” he said, noting his father, who has since become a Christian, was once a devout Muslim. “He took me to there because, in Iran, [the] only religion you can practice is Islam.”
By age 13, Ahmadi was memorizing the Koran. He eventually earned a degree in survey engineering — and became one of the top engineers in the country. With this position came prestige and a life he loved.
But that eventually came to an end.
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Ahmadi worked at a petrochemical factory and came under the Iranian government’s crosshairs after reportedly witnessing a secretive government installation. Suddenly, he was being investigated, and interrogated, and asked if he had a connection with Israel or America.
“We said, ‘No, no, no. I have nothing to do with them,’” he recalled, noting he soon was warned that he would be killed if he didn’t flee the nation. “I couldn’t say ‘Bye’ to my family, my mom and my dad, and this was hardest part of my life.”
Ahmadi continued, “I had to escape illegally from Iran because, if I go through the border, they would arrest me. So there was a wintertime in our area … There’s a lot of snow. So I had to pass the mountain between Iran and Turkey border.
A smuggler took Ahmadi and other strangers accompanying him on the difficult journey.
“That was like hardest, hardest part of my life,” he said. “I’m just running for my life and the fear, and … I don’t know [if] I’m gonna be die. I don’t know the area.”
Once in Turkey, Ahmadi had to figure out who he could trust. With Iranian agents purportedly operating inside Turkey, he wasn’t sure who would be safe to confide in.
“That’s when I start drinking, smoking because I looked at the world, how they are getting satisfied, how they are overcoming the pain, the loss I had,” he said. “God — Islam didn’t answer me.”
At that point, praying and fasting in the Islamic tradition simply didn’t help him find his footing. Eventually, Ahmadi made his way to England, where he continued to party and live a life gratifying himself — until someone presented him with the Gospel message.
“Someone approached me [with] simple words [and] said, ‘Do you know Jesus loves you?’” he recalled. “And by that time I felt I’m [a] sinner because I was drinking [and] all this party stuff. In Islam, if you do good, God loves you. If you do bad, God hates you.”
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Reprinted with permission from faithwire.com. Copyright © 2026 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
